When I found myself married with kids, without the budget for a garage full of cars, and feeling like I could very well die a little inside if I traded my 911 in for a minivan, I had to do some soul searching. Seeing my first child born brought on a rush of emotions, which eventually gave way to instinctively thinking about how the future was about to change.
The Panamera does about as good a job as you could expect of making room for the family without dumbing down the driving experience, and any 911 owner knows that their threshold for "dumb" is very different than the general population's. It comes with a huge number of options, and a choice of engines that can take you up to 500 turbocharged horsepower. The interior is roomy and comfortable enough that even the most performance tone-deaf members of my family can keep themselves distracted ooh-ing and ahh-ing over its appointments while I'm enjoying driving it. The lines on the 2010 model may not be for everyone, but to me they're an improvement over previous years' models. Acceleration, handling, braking, and communication with the road - they are all here, and all Porsche. This luxury car has made the driving part of my midlife crisis pain-free, and dare I say beautiful. It's a car I can enjoy driving by myself on a challenging twisty road every bit as much as to the mall with the family in tow.